The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-07-27
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A SINGING .REBuKE;
Cieveland's Terrible Arrangement Of Self.
Seeking Mischief-Makers.

Seeking Mischief-Makers
"While those who fought and who
have so much to forgive lead in the
Pleasant ways of peace. how wicked
appear the traffic in sectional hate and
the betrayal Of patriotic sentiment. -
These words of the President of the
United States, combining the loftiest
patriotism with a sober censure of re-
cent incorporate utterances concern
ing the rescinded battle-flag order,
"frenzied: appeals TO passion for tln-
worthy purposes will confirm and
extend the feeling Of confidence and
respect which is entertained for the
Administration by a vast majority of
the people of this country. They are
the words of a man who conccives for
patriots nobler, duty than the sys-
tematic treasuring up Of the memories
and the visible symbols of civil strife,
a more useful occupation than the
frequent and fiery iteration Of
principles which none disputes
and which are no where more heartily
and fully recognized than among those
whose defeat established them for
ever. ,1.# 81 !.
They come from the cart of Presi-
dent whose election marked the close
OF the war period-the first President
OF the completely reunited Republic
and they evince love of country such
as the traffickers in sectional hate GER
tainly can. not feel and probably, can
not comprehend. Yet this is only a
single sentence among many equally
notable in the Presidents letter to the
Secretary of the Philadelphia Brigade
upon the reunion on the field of Get
tysburg of the Union of ex-Confed-
crate soldiers who fought there with
such desperate valor twentY-four years
ago. i'.s
As q dignified and proper rebuke
Of the self-seeking partisans who have
OF late attracted some public attention
by cursing and denouncing the Presi-
dent, this letter is well-nigh matchless
in its perfection. A more terrible arr
raignment of the Fairchilds and Tan.
ners and other apostles of bitterness
whom the flag incident brought into
prominence could not be framed without
a wide departure from those stand
ards of verbal propriety which Presi-
dent is constrained to respect. What
severer thing can be said of man
than that his conduct shows an '.insin-
certify which conceals hatred by pro-
LESSONS of Kindness" that ne, is a
maker of ':frenzied appeals to passion
for unworthy purposes" and that he
is engaged in ''the traffic in sectional
hate and the betrayal of patriotic SEN
timent?" With rare aptness Mr.
Cleveland packs into one pres-
nant phrase characterization of
the "bloody-shirt'' issue which is
strictly true and stingingly Sc
severe. 1.-The traffic in sectional hate''
is phraze which throws the revealing
light of the "just word" over the base
business in which not few eminent
citizens of the Northern States are
still actively engaged. And this de-
served censure of Fairchild and his
kind is joined to sentiments which APP
peal with force to every American citi-
zen who sincerely loves his country,
his whole country. ut surely can not
be wrong" writes the President, 'to
desire the settled quiet which lights for
our entire country the path to pros
perity and greatness; nor need the les
sons of the war be forgotten and it's re-
suits jeopardized in the wish for that
genuine fraternity which insures Ma
tional pride and glory"
The obliteration of sectional lines
and the quoting Of sectional passion
are precio US results of Mr.. Cleve-
lands election. The extent to which
these results have been achieved is not
yet generally recognized. 1t is meas
ured to the public eye by the increas-
ing frequency of reunions and of ex-
changes of greetings between the sol
diers of the Union army and those who
fought against them. The coming of
the survivors of Pickett's division to
the field of Gettysburg on the invita-
ton of the Philadelphia Brigade marks
the growth of the new feeling. But
the change has been most conspicuous
ly demonstrated by the character and
the limitations of the pow-wow about
the flags. 1t was led by General Fair.
child, a professional old soldier. It
was helped on vociferously by Corp"
Tanner, another professional old SOL
der and chronic office-seeker. And
it was kept up by newspaper editors to
whom, as to the two gentlemen we
have named, the incident seemed to
have been providential'y furnished in
an unprecedentedly "dry time,' for
partisan use against the Demo-
cratic party. But the great mass of
the people of the North were wholly
unaffected by these "frenzied appeals
to passion They were moved neither
by apprehension for the permanency of
the ''results of the war; nor by any
sort Of sympathy with those who were
engaged in the traffic in hate The
good sense of the South in treating the
outbreak with the contempt it de-
served responded to this feeling of in
difference at the North. The loyal cit
liens of both sections of the country
saw clearly that the agitators were
bawling about thing that didn't ex-